Columbus Day 2011

At the time he lived and sailed during the 15th Century there was no man dead or alive who was more gifted at navigating the seas than Christopher Columbus.

When speaking or writing about him, the same things have been chronicled about him throughout the centuries.

He was brave. He was bold. He was fearless. He was privileged.

He was considered by the world of his time as a visionary genius, and a national hero.

To the Indians in the native lands he discovered or visited, he was ruthless, an imperialist in every measure of the word.

His famous voyage to the America’s made him the toast of Europe and especially with the crown of Spain. His voyages to the Bahamas, at a locale he named San Salvador and all his subsequent voyages ending with his fourth round trip voyage to the Americas in 1503, set the pace for the expanded Spanish colonization of the Americas.

He was one of the giants of his era. He was the biggest hero to come out of his native Italian city of Genoa.

We celebrate his birth and his heritage 519 years after his first and most sensational voyage.

In the words of Shakespeare: he was a man through and through. We shall not see his likes again.